


Quick, Distract Him

by rexluscus



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Incompetentlyhelpful!Jack, M/M, Relationship uncertainty, Sick!Ianto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-15
Updated: 2012-10-15
Packaged: 2017-11-16 08:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/537677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexluscus/pseuds/rexluscus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ianto is sick and Jack comes over to "help out."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quick, Distract Him

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt by nativestar.

On the third day, he awoke. To the sound of a hoover chewing up the fringe of his carpet.  
  
"Dammit," a voice said softly.  
  
Ianto lifted the blanket from his face and peered through the slits of his eyelids. Jack knelt on the floor, struggling with the hoover, a few feet away.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Ianto croaked. His mouth tasted like death.  
  
"Ianto!" Jack abandoned the hoover and hurried to his side. "You weren't supposed to wake up. That was not my plan."  
  
"Few people can sleep through hoovering." Ianto blinked up at him. Jack had a weird look on his face—a kind of awkward, solicitous concern. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Jack smiled and petted his hair. "Just thought you could use a hand. I hear it's what people do when their boyfriends are sick."  
  
"So you're…hoovering. Right." Ianto pushed Jack's hand away. He wasn't sure if he was more annoyed by the implication that he was somehow Jack's  _duty_  or by Jack's use of the verboten word "boyfriend"—a word he was pretty sure he would get shot down or laughed at for using if their positions were reversed.  
  
"Yeah, that might have been a bad call." Jack kissed Ianto's forehead despite his protests and stood up. "I'll go do your dishes instead."  
  
Ianto flopped back down onto the couch, feeling wretched and sticky and sore. His eyes had just begun to fall shut again when the sound of the garbage disposal eating a piece of silverware floated out from the kitchen.   
  
Jack looked up guiltily as Ianto appeared in the kitchen doorway, wrapped in a blanket. "Sorry!" said Jack, taking Ianto by the shoulders. "I'll keep it down, I swear."  
  
"Jack," said Ianto, fighting Jack's efforts to guide him out of the room. "The toaster oven's on fire."  
  
"Dammit!"  
  
Once that emergency had passed, Ianto leaned against the doorframe and laughed.   
  
"What?" said Jack sourly, trying to wave the smoke clear of the smoke alarm.  
  
"It's just," Ianto laughed, "you're so  _bad_  at this." His laughter turned to coughing. "It's sweet, though. Thanks for trying." He shuffled over to the counter and filled the electric kettle.  
  
As he got the tea down from the cupboard, Jack's arms slipped around him from behind. "Work sucks without you there," said Jack petulantly, kissing Ianto's shoulder. Then he gave an exaggerated sniff. "Jesus, you need a bath."  
  
Ianto rolled his eyes. He suspected Jack's bungling was a performance designed to distract them from any signs of real intimacy. Jack liked to manage people's expectations that way. And because Ianto understood the impulse, he played along. "Go run me one, then," he said, nudging Jack with his shoulder. "Give my poor kitchen a break."  
  
"Sure thing." With a last furtive grope of Ianto's arse, Jack headed for the bathroom.   
  
Ianto set his tea steeping and smiled. Jack, it seemed, was a little bit  _scared_  of this, of them. He could work with that.  
  
"Hey Ianto!" came Jack's shout from down the corridor. "I got all wet so I had to take off all my clothes!"  
  
 _Uh huh_ , thought Ianto, dropping his blanket and heading off in search of Jack.  _Definitely scared._


End file.
